Back to Black IPAs—Are Cascadian Dark Ales making a return?

Town Hall Cascadian Dark Ale • Photo via Town Hall Brewery

Welcome to Beer Dabbler’s Freshies, our weekly rundown on the newest beers hitting the store shelves and taproom coolers in Minnesota from your favorite local and national breweries. 

Sometimes beer is just like the calendar. It’s been very dark for a while now, but it’s starting to get just a little bit lighter this week.

The big imperial stouts are certainly still plentiful, but we also see malt-forward, lighter-bodied Cascadian dark ales coming back – even a retro black IPA. There’s just something about those roasty flavors that help a body warm up, even when the thermometer is stuck below zero and the shoveling is relentless. If the car will start, head out to try some new old styles. There are a couple of NA options too, so there’s no need to feel like you’re missing out if you’re taking a break with a Dry January either.

Each week, the Beer Dabbler team highlights five of the most tantalizing new beers that we’re most excited to try.

Bent Paddle Beargrease – A Paddle It Forward collaboration with the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon that raises funds for the organization. Sold only in the taproom, it’s a 5.1% ABV, 31 IBU “traditional British-style pale ale with notes of freshly baked bread, toffee, oak, with floral and earthy hops,” as the brewery explains.

Broken Clock Look At This Graf – A gluten-friendly apple beer collaboration with Pine Tree Apple Orchard (White Bear Lake), hopped with Cascade and Citra. 10.2% ABV, 22 IBU.

Elm Creek Mind Leash – “In collaboration with the band Wanderer, we brewed a Black IPA that has traditional West Coast-style aromas, with a dark color and a malty smooth finish,” the brewery says. 6.4% ABV. Taproom only.

Tin Whiskers Irish Cream Stout – Back today, this is a dry Irish-style stout brewed with Irish whiskey-soaked oak and cacao nibs, plus a dose of milk chocolate, vanilla, and coffee. A 4.3% Irish coffee in a can, the brewery says.

Venn Winter Warmer – A sahti-inspired imperial lager with juniper. 10% ABV.

New beers available this week

608 Brewing Company

• COCOCO – “Big roasty coffee notes are smoothed over by the rich malt character and coconut,” the brewery says of this new beer, available today on draft and in 4-packs to go.
• Sparkle Bubbles – Tapped last week, this is a fruited sour with peaches, marshmallow, and a fitting use of Champagne yeast. 6% ABV.

• War Materials – This batch, tapped last weekend, features Simcoe hops.

Alloy Brewing Company

• Emily’s Strawberry Blonde Ale – New in the employee appreciation series, this 5.0% ABV, 20 IBU blonde ale was made with help from beertender Emily.

Arbeiter Brewing

• Dip Check – A dip-hopped cold IPA with resinous pineapple and tangerine flavors and a light-body, the brewery says of this 6.7% ABV, 65 IBU new beer with a hockey nod in its name.
• Moneymaker – “Only the highest gravity wort was collected from both mashes to make what is the biggest beer we’ve made at Arbeiter,” the brewery says of this 12.6% ABV, 58 IBU imperial stout with semi-sweet chocolate, date, and prune flavors that build to a chocolate and espresso finish.
• Resolution – Fittingly listed below the big imperial stout, this is a non-alcoholic mocha stout, described as having a dry first impression with a slightly sweater finish, complemented by roasty and coffee notes. 0.0% ABV, 20 IBU

Arbeiter’s Dip Check • Photo via Arbeiter Brewing

Bent Paddle Brewing Co.

• Beargrease – Top Flight selection.
• Lollygagger Pale Ale – “This West Coast-style pale ale is crisp and hoppy,” says co-founder Colin Mullen, with a portion of sales in 2022 to benefit Hartley Nature Center.

BlackStack Brewing

• Spare Parts – A dark lager fermented in neutral French oak foeders. 5.5% ABV.
• The Lost World – “Earth-rattling quantities of our hand-selected Mosaic and Mosaic Cryo with Toppling Goliath’s hand-selected Citra, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka from their secret stash,” BlackStack says of this collaboration triple IPA at 10.1% ABV.

Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative

• Look At This Graf – Top Flight selection.

Copper Trail Brewing Co.

• Honolulo: Mango and Lulo Sour – A 5.6% ABV, 8 IBU sour ale with a crisp bite and soft mouthfeel, the brewery describes it as “Tropical, citrusy, and tart.” Contains lactose.
• Oat In A Boat – An oatmeal stout with caramel undertones, deep roast flavor, and subtle fruity notes, the brewery says, with minimal astringency and a tan head. 7.8% ABV, 27 IBU.

Drekker Brewing

• 2 Right Eyes – A juicy double IPA with apricot, pineapple, kiwi, melon, and dank tones due to the use of Citra and Mosaic hops. 8.3% ABV.
• Braaaaaaaains! – “This one was blasted with prickly pear, strawberry, and guava then we hit it with our double secret smoothie treatment of sea salt, lactose, and vanilla beans,” the Fargo-based brewery says. 5.3% ABV.
• Chonk– Mango and marshmallow define this soft and fluffy 6.2% ABV experience.
• PRRRT!: Yabba Dabba PRRRT Now – A sour ale fruited with cherry, tangerine, lemon, and lime, plus Fruity Pebbles cereal, vanilla ice cream, lactose, and vanilla beans. 6.6% ABV.
• Super Freak – A double dry-hopped take on Freak Parade IPA, this beer is described as pillowy in texture with peach gummy and melon-like flavors. 8.2% ABV.

Elm Creek Brewing Co.

• Arcane Sanctuary – An IPA hopped with Sabro and Idaho 7. Available in cans.
• Cloud Dweller – A New England-style double IPA at 8.5% ABV and featuring a blend of Mosaic and Citra hops. Available in cans.
• Hiatus Porter – “This porter melds traditional English ingredients with American brewing style and yeast from the Pacific Northwest,” Elm Creek says, with roasted malt, toffee, chocolate, and caramel notes for a more robust, Americanized take on the traditional English style. 6% ABV. Taproom only.
• Mind Leash – Top Flight selection.

Fair State Brewing Cooperative

• Hypercold Amber –A non-alcoholic “roasty cousin” of Hypercold, available in cans just in time for Dry January. The brewery will also offer limited pours of Methode 2020, a lambic-style beer, and More is More, a barrel-aged stout, for Cellar Saturday this week.

Falling Knife Brewing Company

• DDH Double Hidden Temple – A bigger and bolder Hidden Temple IPA with flavors of mango, papaya, and more. On tap now and coming in cans soon. 8.5% ABV.

Founders Brewing Co.

• All Day Haze – A sessionable hazy pale ale. At 4.9% ABV and a cocktail of Citra, Simcoe, and Amarillo hops, this new offering is sold in 6-packs and 15-packs of 12 oz cans, 4-packs of 16oz cans, and draft.
• Frootwood – Available now for a limited time.

Hoops Brewing Company

• No. 39 Keller Pils – 5.4% ABV
• No. 889 Cream Ale

Lupulin Brewing Company

• Haferflocken – A 4.2% ABV, 27 IBU oatmeal stout, on tap now.
• Rene v.1 – New in the Scribbled Lines sour series, this is a foeder aged ale with mango and pineapple. At 8.1% ABV, 30 IBU, it’s a funky sour with white wine–like character. Sold in bottles and at both brewery locations.
• Winter IPA – A 6.7% ABV IPA, on tap now.

Modist Brewing Co.

• Intergalactic Sofa Ghost – On tap this Saturday, a recipe of oats, wheat, pale ale malt, and Citra, Strata, Cryo Citra, and Sabro hops come together for a double dry-hopped New England-style IPA. In liquor stores next week.

Oliphant Brewing

• Double Fruit Raspberry Anutart – A raspberry sour ale at 5% ABV.
• Super Squishy – The raspberry, blackberry, and coconut, plus lactose, vanilla, and sea too. 5% ABV.

Rustech Brewing

• Orange Ya Smashed Yet? – A milk chocolate and orange porter, tapped for the holidays. 6.8% ABV, 45 IBU.
• Majestic Warrior – An 8.2% ABV, 51 IBU imperial stout.

Stone Brewing   

• Sublimely Self-Righteous Black IPA – Kicking off a fan-voted series of one-off returning recipes throughout 2022, this IPA combines flavors of chocolate, raspberry, tropic fruit, and hoppy resin.
• Variety Pack – A new variety pack is available in cans (no longer bottles only), featuring Stone IPA, Delicious IPA, Tangerine Express, and Fear.Movie.Lions.

Summit Brewing Company

• Elderflower IPA – Back for the third time and sold exclusively in the Mixed IPA Pack (along with Saga, Slugfest, and Twenty-One), this unfiltered IPA has notes of bubblegum, lavender and honeydew and finishes smooth and clean. 7% ABV.
• Twenty-One IPA – Another Mixed IPA Pack seasonal exclusive, Twenty-One offers bright citrus and bitter pine with a balanced, dry finish.

Three Twenty Brewing Company

• Cranberry Happy Wife Porter

Tin Whiskers Brewing Company

• Champagne Supernova – Tapped for New Year’s, this was a blend of Supernova Double Hazy IPA (100% Galaxy hops) and Thalassa (a white wine barrel aged Saison with plums) at 9.5% ABV, 25 IBU. “The result is a beer that is bright, tropical and delicately sour with flavors of Pineapple, plums, and mango,” the brewery says.
• Ion NEIPA – Sabro, Citra, Cryo Pop hops set the tone in this IPA for notes of pineapple, coconut, stone fruit, and tangerine. Taproom only.
• Irish Cream Stout – Top Flight selection.
• Iron Wire Blackberry Wheat – A limited American wheat ale with jammy blackberry and notes of lemon zest and cinnamon, the brewery says.
• Mint Patties Imperial Stout – A limited candy-inspired winter release in stores now.

Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.   

• Strawberry Shortcake Fandango – A kettle sour, packaged in 16-ounce cans, which “welcomes you with sweet, macerated strawberries, followed by a fluffy vanilla-whip middle; and a crumbly shortbread finish,” the brewery says.

Town Hall Brewery

• Cascadian Dark Ale (CDA) – Brewed with chocolate and caramel malts for roasty, stout-like flavors with a Pacific Northwest twist.
• Hoppy Trotter IPA – A blend of German, Australian and Pacific Northwest hops make this IPA smooth and fruity with melon and creamy orange flavors, Town Hall says. 6.5% ABV.

Urban Forage Winery And Cider House

• Peach Wine –Available now, including in take-home 750-milliliter bottles.

Utepils Brewing

• Totally Different Stout – A new taproom exclusive stout.

Venn Brewing Company

• Winter Warmer – Top Flight selection.

Have a new beer we should know about? Send the details to newbeer@beerdabbler.com for inclusion in Freshies.